Media and responsible AI governance: A game-theoretic and LLM analysis

Citation

Balabanova N, Bashir A, Bova P, Buscemi A, Cimpeanu T, Correia Da Fonseca H, Stefano AD, Hong Duong M, Domingos EF, Fernandes AM, Han TA, Krellner M, Ogbo NB, Powers ST & Proverbio D (2026) Media and responsible AI governance: A game-theoretic and LLM analysis. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2503.09858

Abstract
This paper investigates the complex interplay between AI developers, regulators, users, and the media in fostering trustworthy AI systems. Using evolutionary game theory and large language models (LLMs), we model the strategic interactions among these actors under different regulatory regimes. The research explores two key mechanisms for achieving responsible governance, safe AI development and adoption of safe AI: incentivising effective regulation through media reporting, and conditioning user trust on commentariats' recommendation. The findings highlight the crucial role of the media in providing information to users, potentially acting as a form of "soft" regulation by investigating developers or regulators, as a substitute to institutional AI regulation (which is still absent in many regions). Both game-theoretic analysis and LLM-based simulations reveal conditions under which effective regulation and trustworthy AI development emerge, emphasising the importance of considering the influence of different regulatory regimes from an evolutionary game-theoretic perspective. The study concludes that effective governance requires managing incentives and costs for high quality commentaries.

Keywords
AI governance; AI regulation; responsible AI; game theory; LLM; trustworthy AI; behavioural dynamics; media 2

Notes
Additional authors: Fernando P. Santos, Zia Ush Shamszaman and Zhao Song

• Media and responsible AI governance: A game-theoretic and LLM analysis